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Last couple smokes had tough draw...

M

mhortsch

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Jan 9, 2005
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901
Smoked a RP Vintage 1990 and a Indian Tabac Cameroon Legend...the first 1/4 to 1/3 had some extremely tough draw. My humi doesnt get about 65. I do have the bag of beads sitting in the corner of my humi, with nothing seperating it from me sticks (they arent touching however)

Is this from over humidity, or are they plugged?

This happens to by the humi I keep all my special sticks in, im hoping this isn't reflected among the majority of the inventory!
 
I'd say it depends on how long the sticks were in the humi, and whether they are cello'd or still in the box or whatever.

I've found that the more layers surround the cigar, the longer it takes to equalize. I have a humi that I know is significantly drier than JR's warehouses and a JR Ultimate that I had for over a year exhibited coning.

If you want the whole cigar to be the humidity of your humidor it has to be stored nude and on top for at least two weeks, IMO.

So without knowing how the cigars were stored and for how long, I can't answer your question.
 
They are all un-cellod, naked. They were on the top row, of the bottom of my humi. With an RH around 63, are you saying that its possible they kept a high humidity from their previous location?
 
OK, we now have half the information we need. How long have they been sitting in your humi, naked, on the top row, of the bottom of your humi?

And, since others may ask, how do you know that the humidity is 63%?
 
digital hydrometer, I change the location from the top shelf to the bottom shelf every week or 2.

The RP has been in the humi since christmas. From say Dec to mid march it was in a humi that averaged about 61%, I then moved it to my "important" humi.

The indian tobac has been in the humi for about 3 weeks.
 
Ok I am going to assume that you have tested the hygrometer somehow, such as the salt test, since it seems like you know your sh1t.

I'm gonna have to say that the RP had a plug, especially since the draw actually loosened as you smoked (usually if anything it gets worse due to the byproducts of combustion (one of which is water) building up in the unsmoked tobacco). Also, the RP Vintage seconds I bought had very tight draws. I assumed this was why they were tagged as seconds. Now I wonder if maybe the cigars don't sell that well and they just randomly assigned some to be seconds, because as far as I can tell there are no differences between my seconds and most peoples' firsts!

The IT is a bit harder to diagnose, but again since the draw was only tight at the beginning, I'm thinking plug. It seems maybe Indian Tabac cigars in general tend to be rolled a little tight?

Did the cigars exhibit any coning?

You're going to have to smoke some more of these to be sure, or better yet send me two of every cigar in your humidor for expert evaluation. AIP.

Just wanted to add, I am in no way, shape, or form an expert and my views do not necessarily represent the views of any other CPers, especially FOGs. Or newbies. Or anyone who is actually knowledgeable about cigars. This message brought to you by the Greater Washington DC area Gay Men's Chorus.
 
Coning is when after ashing, the cherry area looks like a cone or a pencil tip. Meaning the outside of the cigar is burning faster than the inside, which usually means the inside of the cigar is wetter than the outside.

Fixing a plug--you can poke the cigar with a poker or gently squeeze/massage the cigar at the point of the plug (usually a hard spot you can feel), thereby hopefully breaking it up.

If you do a search I'm, sure it's ben explained far better than I just did.
 
I had the same problem with 80% of the stuff I've been getting from Cigarbid, I have to let my cigars rest for about 4-5 weeks before they are enjoyable...seems the shipping is devastating on the cigars. I'm not knocking the site at all...just my experience. From all the other sites I do business with, it takes from as little as 2 weeks to several weeks.

Not an affcianado, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.
 
indyrob said:
I had the same problem with 80% of the stuff I've been getting from Cigarbid, I have to let my cigars rest for about 4-5 weeks before they are enjoyable...seems the shipping is devastating on the cigars. I'm not knocking the site at all...just my experience. From all the other sites I do business with, it takes from as little as 2 weeks to several weeks.

Not an affcianado, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.
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If the cigars are tight I think it's more that their warehouse is on the wet side. Most online retailers, and even many tobacconists, store their sticks on the wet side to be safe.
 
I could imagine coning affecting the draw, but does it affect the flavor of a cigar? I've had cigars that coned when dropping the ash.
 
Lemon said:
I could imagine coning affecting the draw, but does it affect the flavor of a cigar? I've had cigars that coned when dropping the ash.
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I think that it may affect the flavor a bit, since at some point you are getting more wrapper and binder in relation to the filler, but once the cone is formed I think the burn rate becomes even again (the cone doesn't get sharper and sharper as the stick burns down, at least in my experience).

Also the fact that the wrapper and binder are drier (or the middle of the filler wetter) alone may affect flavor. I haven't smoked enough of the same cigar stored at different humidities to know for sure, but I would imagine absolute humidity would affect flavor.

Note that the above discussion IMO is really splitting hairs, and for someone who smokes cigars for relaxation and enjoyment, the experience won't be affected in a noticeable manner.
 
I notice that the draw on a wet cigar has a distinctive bitter/funky flavor, and as I laboriously suck on the damn thing it starts to swell as it gets shorter, to the point the wrapper starts to split. As was noted before, the moisture evaporates at the burnt end, only to be reabsorbed by the filler further up the cigar. Genuinely plugged cigars, in my experience, still taste ok, just hard to draw. I have really good success using a straighted paper clip, one long enough to get to the plugged portion of the stick. If after a couple of pokes, it still draws badly, I toss it.
 
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